Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

Y&R has been on the hunt for a replacement executive creative director since Vaughn Davis departed in September last year. And it's managed to lure one of our boys back home, with Josh Moore, a Kiwi lad who has been working in Sydney for the past five years as executive creative director and partner in US Sydney, taking up the role.

US Sydney is the startup agency for the media shop Razor and it has gone from five to 45 staff in four years under his stewardship.

His work has been recognised at all major shows including Cannes, One Show, D&AD, NYC, Effies, Caples, Young Guns and AXIS; he has created work for Hallensteins Glassons, Nestle, Bank Direct, BMW, Sony, Toyota, Vodafone, Suncorp, Genesis Energy, Stella Artois, Subaru, EA Games, Fairfax Media, SBS and Nike; and he has been ranked the sixth best creative director in Australia by Campaign Brief.

Before leaving New Zealand for Sydney, Moore worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Mojo, Lowe and Generator.

“I’m stoked to be heading back to New Zealand and working with the team at Y&R. They have some great talent, fantastic clients and great creative opportunities,” Moore says. “And, of course, I’ll be just in time for the Rugby World Cup."

Moore will be based in Auckland with national responsibilities (Duncan Munro and Tony Haig in Wellington have been looking after the agency's creative output since Davis departed). He starts at Y&R on 5 September.

"He’ll be working alongside me, Jason Wells (the ideas director who was hired in March), Janisa Parag (planner0, Nigel Hammersely (digital director) and Barry Williamson (media director)," says Y&R chief executive Jon Ramage. "He’s ambitious for the agency and champing at the bit to get stuck into ideas. We’re all looking forward to him arriving."

If we find you doing these things, your comments will be edited without recourse and you may be asked to go away and reconsider your actions.
We respect the right to free speech and anonymous comments. Don’t abuse the privilege.

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Why we like it: In a slightly dystopic and animalistic car spot, Mitsubishi has promoted its new Triton Huntaway II. The video sees the utetravelling over rugged Wellington terrain and highlights the vehicles multiple features. The campaign is based on exclusivity as Mitsubishi’s new ute has just 20 up for grabs. To provide further hype to its audience, the ad finishes with the line, “if you don’t catch it now, you won’t see it for dust”.

Who’s it for:2degrees by DDB

Why we like it:2degrees continue to expose the unusual nature of everyday gestures in its latest spot that lingers over three couples shaking hands. In a world of sloppy, or overly stiff hand-shakes, it is good to see the act of peace and trade be scrutinised. Described as ‘pumping someone up and down as if they are low on air’ the spot films handshakes in slow motion and scrutinises the instinctive way in which we communicate. The spot is a part of 2degrees ‘Second Nature’ campaign, which releases multiple ads and gives focus to the contribution of 2degrees in helping Kiwi businesses up and down the country.

Who’s it for: TVNZ by TVNZ’s Blacksand

Why we like it: Last week, Deadpool hijacked TVNZ’s brand assets, gate crashed multiple TVNZ channel idents and appeared in a Broadcasting Standards spot for TVNZ. The character, played by famous American actor Ryan Reynolds, saw a one-off opportunity for TVNZ, who utilised the sarcastic superhero across multiple platforms and programmes. The ads coincided with the release of Deadpool 2, which is currently on screen in cinemas.